Out to Pasture
by etcetera-cat
Summary: Growing old disgracefully.  A Grass is Greener story.


**Disclaimer:** Only the daft bits are mine, because I'm the only one daft enough to want them.

**Notes: **For two of my favourite people (one of whom I still need to hunt down in, as they say, real life), both of whom have been subjected to much in the way of suckiness recently. This one's for you, ladies!

**Out to Pasture**

I'm sure that Alex would deny it (and argue the point right into the ground), and the opinions of Sam and Harali are best left unmentioned (as is 'Ali's laugh, which sounds like a drainpipe full of frogs), but I'm almost entirely sure that I've mellowed with age.

For example, in my misbegotten youth, I developed a (perfectly justified) habit of standing outside the dark sheds in the royal kitchen gardens and hurling vocally (and not always fantastically well-shielded) abuse at the fungal occupants. Now I merely mutter darkly as I pass.

See? _Mellowed._

Currently aiding me in being mellow is the summer sun, which would probably be oppressive if I had to actually run around in it, but given that I'm currently sprawled on my side on a nicely comfortable (and warm) patch of sand next to a bend in the Terilee, it's extremely nice.

Adopting a similar position a short distance away from me is Harali, who is snoring her way through what sounds like an entire forest of logs.

_:You're going to make me fall asleep in a minute.: _Alex's voice arrives in my head with no warning and I resist the urge to poke a mental tongue out at him.

_:Harali's the one who's snoring,_: I point out.

_:Yes, but you're the one who projecting warm-and-sleepy hard enough to fell an Empath at fifty paces.:_

_:Good thing you're not an Empath then, isn't it?_:

The mental equivalent of a sigh. _:One to you. I am, however, attempting to get the basics of shielding into the heads of some trainees.:_

I perk up a bit at that, because Alex is usually trying to hammer the basics of geography into the heads of trainees, what with the amount of the blasted stuff that we saw when we were on active Circuit. _:Why are you taking Gift lessons?:_

_:I swear, for a self-confessed interfering white horse, you are sometimes the worst at getting hold of gossip about Heralds.:_ Alex gives me the equivalent of an elbow nudge and I aim my own prod back at him.

_:Less heckling, more gossip, boyo.:_

_:Evin managed to fall down the stairs this morning, and is currently sitting in Healers' with a twisted ankle and a lump the size of an egg on the back of his head. His Merila was supposedly frothing at the mouth earlier on.:_

_:Because her Chosen fell down some stairs?:_

_:Because her Chosen fell down some stairs whilst trying to avoid being pushed down the stairs by a ravening pack of Bardic and Unaffiliated students. I'm surprised that you didn't hear the respective Deans shouting from out in the Field.:_ Alex's contact fades for a moment, and I dimly sense him talking to someone before a paper-thin shield appears and disappears about his mind.

_:'Ali did mention something about a bunch of Bardic students who woke up this morning to find that they'd turned blue overnight,_: I say, once he's re-established contact. _:I thought she meant that there'd been some kind of fight during one of the art classes.:_

_:Don't remind me about the art classes,_: Alex groans. _:I'm all for the students having hobbies and free time, but if I get trailed around by one more lisping _artist_ wanting to paint a portrait of the Herald with the different Whites, I'm going to scream.:_

_:I think it's nice that we keep in contact with Silverleaf. And it's not like it's only the k'Shona hertasi sending things to us, we do reciprocate. I remember a very effusive letter about the silk you managed to get to them.:_ I debate standing up and stretching, but settle for a very undignified leg-kicking roll over to my other side.

_:You only say that because you've not had to get any kit from the Companions' saddler for years and years.:_

_:True,_: I admit happily. _:Still, I'd probably get at least as many aspiring artists as you—_:

_:Except for the dual facts that you usually resemble something that's been dragged backwards through a bramble patch, and you have a terrible tendency to meet anyone brave enough to approach you with the kind of vacant look that wouldn't look out of place on a fish.:_

I sit up with a snort and flash indignation at Alex. _:Hey!_:

_:A _dead_ fish,_: Alex says with relish, ignoring my spluttering. _:One from Evendim.:_

_:I hate you completely and utterly.:_

Alex chuckles. _:I'm glad to hear it. If you're not too busy being consumed with loathing, how about lending a hand?_:

_:How?_: I ask suspiciously. Alex sighs and I quickly launch into a protesting explanation. _:I'm _asking_ because the reason that Harali is currently doing an impression of a beached yacht is because Sam volunteered the both of them to 'lend a hand', but failed to tell 'Ali that said lending a hand involved pelting it around the obstacle course to demonstrate to some of the cocky younglings that even us spavined old nags can move like the clappers when we feel like it.:_

_:I am not spavined,_: Harali interjects. I glance over at her; she has neither changed position, nor opened an eye. She has stopped snoring.

_:I thought you were asleep.:_

Now Harali does open an eye, and gives me a pointed look with it. _:I was, until certain people started chattering nineteen to the dozen.:_

I sigh and drag myself to my feet. _:Fine, fine; I can take a hint—_:

_:That'd be a first.:_

_:Alex_an_der.:_ I scowl in my Chosen's general direction, ignoring his childish giggling. _:As I was saying; _I_ know when I'm not wanted. I'll leave you to your rest.:_

_:Well deserved rest,_: 'Ali says smugly. _:None of them managed to beat our time.:_

I roll my eyes and give myself a good shake and a cursory look over. Most of the sand I'd acquired has come off.

_:Where are you, then?:_

_:The sundial courtyard, by Heraldic.:_

I sigh and begin trailing towards the Palace-Collegia. _:Alex, every other garden courtyard thing around here—and there are a lot of them—has a blasted sundial in it.:_

_:Hence why I said 'by Heraldic'. It's the only one.:_ Alex correctly interprets my silence and sighs. _:All the rosebushes and the big yew hedge?_:

_:Oh, that one,_: I say unconvincingly.

_:How you have managed to live here for this long and still not know how to get pretty much anywhere is beyond me.:_

_:Navigating is what I have you for.:_ I pause in my trek across the Field to let a stampede of shrieking foals go past. _:And the grooming, of course.:_

_:That does not bode well for what you currently resemble. Do I even want to know?_:

I attempt a superior sniff, but suspect that I fail rather miserably. _:Just some sand. There's no need to have a conniption.:_ I'm halfway across the bridge connecting the Field to the area around the Companion's Stables before I think to ask the question I probably should have put out there before I let Harali nag me off my patch of sand. _:How many and how old?_:

Thankfully, Alex and I have spent many years inhabiting each other's heads, and abrupt subject changes are somewhat of a forte. _:Two. One's twelve and is an incipient Thoughtsenser, and the other is seventeen, deeply confused, and projecting to everyone within ten feet unless someone else holds shields on him.:_

_:Huh.:_ I digest that for a moment. _:Cadi came in yesterday looking like a wound spring and went straight to Healers'.:_

_:Amazing, you actually know some gossip. Yes, the seventeen year old is Cadi's. His name's Lorn. Cadi managed to Choose him two days after he fell off some scaffolding on the docks and bashed his head.:_

_:Activating his Gift.:_

_:Activating his Gift,_: Alex agreed. _:The other one's Dara's Effie, and she is _also_ under constant shielding from her Companion since arriving yesterday. Hence why this lesson couldn't wait until Evin is back on his feet and no longer seeing five of everything.:_

I pause for a moment as the gravel path I've been crunching my way along diverges and I'm forced to make a decision. Left, or straight on? _:Um.:_

_:Left. Anyway, since I'm the strongest Mindspeaker currently in Haven, I got picked for lessoning.:_

I crunch down the left path, sidestepping a grizzled old gardener who looks up from the plant bed he is weeding long enough to give me a look that indicates that whilst I may very well be an intelligent being of near-divinity, I am also a herbivore, and therefore he is going to have words to say if he finds teeth marks in so much as one leaf. Sometimes the things you do as a foal come back to haunt you. Repeatedly.

_:How long have you been at it?_:

_:About a mark.: _Alex sounds dispirited. _:We seemed to get the hang of centring fairly quickly, but the finer points of grounding are eluding us, and the less said about actual shielding the better.:_

_:Oh dear.:_

_:Exactly. The problem is that we're trying to do this through their Companions' shields.:_ Alex anticipates my question. _:Because if we try to take the shields off, even centring goes out the window. Lorn attempts to shout everyone's mental ears off and Effie falls over. Literally.:_

_:So you need me to come and shield you in the same way so you can show them exactly what to do?_: I miss whatever Alex may reply to that with in favour of stopping dead in my tracks and gaping at the group of students that are sitting in the middle of one of the pleasure lawns.

_:Teva?_:

_:I've just seen an aquamarine Bardic student.:_ I continue to stare until one of the students notices me and a wave of nudging draws the attention of the whole group. When it reaches said Bardic student, he takes one look at me and flushes what would normally be a bright red but instead looks like a particularly unattractive puce that manages to clash with both his current skin tone and his rust-coloured trainee uniform.

_:I warned you.:_

_:He's blushing and looking at him is giving me a headache in my eyes.:_ I shake myself and manage to tear my eyes away to continue my journey. _:How did the Blues get them, well, that _blue_?_:

Alex's only response is a laugh.

_:I'm serious, Alexander. That's a combination of colours I haven't seen since being in k'Shona Vale.:_

_:Apparently some of the more promising students that were sponsored in by the Weavers' Guild decided to illustrate some of the finer points of sequential dyeing by replacing the soap in the communal bathhouse with something of their own concoction. I'm reliably informed that they also produced some delightful scarlet bath oil, to the terminal embarrassment of at least three students, and that there's one poor soul wandering around who is a violent shade of purple.:_

_:Now that I'd pay to see.:_ In the distance I spy something that looks suspiciously yew-like and pick up my pace from gentle amble to slightly less gentle meander.

_:Me too,_: Alex admits. Silence for a moment. _:Teva, you have got your decorous and sensitive hat on today, haven't you?_:

This time I do manage a superior kind of sniff. _:I always have my decorous and sensitive hat on,_: I lie outrageously. _:Besides, I've mellowed with age.:_

_:Not that I've noticed.:_

_:You're habituated, you don't count.:_ I reach the a tall, dark green hedge that is indeed made of yew, and begin to follow the path that hopefully leads to some way to the other _side _of the hedge.

_:My point is that everyone in here, both of the four- and two-footed variety, is wound up and vibrating like gittern strings at the moment, so please don't make your entrance by falling through the hedge or anything.:_

_:I,_: I say severely, _:do not fall through hedges.:_

_:Three Rivers,_: Alex says immediately. _:Kettlesmith, Forst Reach, Berrybay—twice, to entirely different hedges—and at least ten other places I can think of off the top of my head.:_

I turn the corner into the courtyard garden itself and direct a glare at my Chosen. _:As much as it is possible to hate someone? I hate you that much.:_

"Lorn, Effie, this is Teva, my Companion."

I quickly change my expression into something less threatening and get my first good look at Alex's impromptu students. The girls looks about ready to shrivel up and be blown away by the slightest breeze, and the boy would look more imposing if he didn't have two black eyes and a body that looks like it's been entirely constructed out of knees and elbows. The pair of them are flanked by equally—ridiculously—young looking Companions.

_:Astera's pet fish. Were we ever that young?_:

_:Possibly not,_: Alex says, before seguing to normal speech. "Teva's going to mimic the shielding that your own Companions are doing on you on me, and then I'm going to show you how to ground and shield again. Hopefully this'll make things easier for you to pick up."

I stump over to stand next to Alex and look between Cadi and Dara. _:We're going to have to do this one at a time,_: I say bluntly, both to them and to Alex. _:Partly because I don't feel like multitasking today, but mainly because you've got problems that are entirely opposite to each other.:_

"True enough," Alex says, before giving the trainees a reassuring smile. "Teva was just pointing out that it'd be easier to sort you out one at a time. You first, I think, Lorn. Effie, if you wouldn't mind going and sitting down, this is going to be very boring for you." Effie wastes no time in dropping one hand from where it had been fidgeting with a lock of her frizzy black hair and skittering over to a limestone bench on the far side of the courtyard. Her Companion gives me a sideways look and rapidly follows.

The young man bobs his head nervously and gulps audibly. "Yessir."

I squint at Cadi, then at the shields she's got around her Chosen. _:Can he Hear you?_:

_:Sometimes. If I, uh, shout.:_ Cadi looks as nervous as her Chosen.

_:Huh.:_ I think about it for a moment, then deftly cast a mirror of her shield over Alex. He blinks rapidly as his Gift senses are dampened.

Since I'm a sharing kind of horse, Alex can hear Cadi through me. He lifts one should to bump me under the chin. _:Our sensitive and decorous hat should not be on over a belligerent face.:_

_:I do not look belligerent,_: I protest privately.

_:You're squinting. That makes you look exactly like the sun-touched creature that people tell the stories about.:_

_:Fame is a heavy burden to bear.:_

_:You mean notoriety. And being your Herald is a heavier burden to bear. I swear I only get such good behaviour in classes because all the trainees are convinced that if they act up, you'll appear at the door and kick the fewmets out of them.: _Alex clears his throat. "Okay, Lorn. Cadi says that you can only Hear her sometimes. I think we're going to start by trying to get your mind to a place where you can Hear her, and then see if that state of mind helps you to focus and ground."

"Um, alright." Lorn involuntarily reaches up and tangles his hand in Cadi's mane, the bruising around his eyes making them look even wider than they actually are.

I allow my attention to wander as Alex busies himself with grounding and shielding around my own shields, doing it all several times over, presumably so both Lorn and Cadi can watch him.

"Did both of you see how we did that?" Alex asks finally, waiting for nods from both trainee and Companion before continuing. "Good. Cadi, I want you to try and project to Lorn; Lorn, I want you to see if you can Hear or feel Cadi. If you can, I want you to try and do what I just showed you. I'll be watching, so you won't be able to hurt yourself."

_:Hey,_: I say to Alex alone. _:You mean that _all_ your students are scared of me?_:

_:I believe the accurate term is 'prudently wary', dreamer.:_

I debate how to take that for a moment. _:I can maybe understand the Heraldic trainees, because Kernos only knows that Veran's had me lecture the younglings of the Herd on more than one occasion—_:

_:Yes, I know.:_ Outwardly, Alex is one hundred percent the sober teacher, internally, he's giggling like a little. _:Everyone generally knows. You achieve volumes that the rest of the Herd often feels the need to share with their Heralds. I won't tell you how many people give me sympathetic glances for about five days after you've been on a harangue.:_

_:Alexander Malken!_:

_:I speak only the truth.:_ Alex gives an encouraging gesture with one hand. "You nearly had it that time, Lorn. You're just a little unbalanced still. Cadi, can you try and thin your shields down a bit?"

Cadi shoots a nervous glance over towards Effie. _:I don't know if that'd be a good idea,_: she tells me.

_:Doubt not the wisdom of your elders,:_ I say grandly, ignoring Alex's sharp reminder about hats that should be both decorous and sensitive. _:Dara, thicken your shielding up. I can boost you if you need it.:_

The young stallion rips his attention away from Effie long enough to give me a look like a rabbit facing down an eagle before hastily complying. _:Yes, ma'am,_: he says in a voice that, if it wasn't Mindspeech, would be cracking and warbling.

_:Did he just call you ma'am?:_

I direct an internal scowl in the direction of the dense patch of amusement masquerading as a responsible adult, and otherwise don't lower myself to answer.

_:Cadi, thin your shields. Alexander, teach the child.:_

Alex rolls his eyes and now it's his turn to ignore me. "Lorn, if you'd like to try again."

_:So, Heraldic trainees, I get. But why the rest of them? Bardic students on their own are about as easy to herd as cats, and when you add in Healers learning all about things that make the body do assorted embarrassing things _and_ the Unaffiliates, you've pretty much got a recipe for disaster.: _I make use of Alex's shoulder as a place to rest my head and he grunts slightly at the unexpected weight.

_:The students do gossip with each other, you know.:_ He hefts the shoulder under my chin. _:And you're the kind of rumour that spreads—_: "Well done, Lorn!"

Lorn is standing there with a somewhat shocked expression on his face, his newly acquired shields spinning gently around him.

_:Oh, thank goodness,_: Cadi says in a heartfelt tone. _:I was getting worn out trying to keep him all inside.:_

_:Hah.:_

_:Decorous and sensitive hat.:_ Alex's shoulder bangs into my chin again.

_:Picky, picky.:_

"Okay, Lorn. Now that you've got your shields set, they should stay stable. I want you and Cadi to go to the other side of the courtyard and practice thinning and thickening your shields and seeing if you can talk to each other more easily now."

"Um, yes sir. Thankee sir."

We both watch as Cadi and Lorn retreat to the opposite side of the courtyard and end up snugged up next to a particularly impressive bit of the yew hedge. From the furtive posture Cadi has adopted, and the way that both she and her Chosen have expressions that simply _scream_ that they have a new-found ability to gossip, I'm guessing that Cadi is belatedly filling Lorn in on just who and what I am. Lorn's black eyes do nothing to disguise the gratifying expression of awe cut with nerves that he is now displaying.

_:You are a terrible, terrible creature,_: Alex informs me.

_:If you concentrate, you may be able to find something more obvious to state. The sky is blue, grass is green, something like that.:_

Alex ignores me and strides towards Effie in a way that somehow manages to be both authoritative _and_ non-threatening. Don't ask me to explain how he does it, because ever since he picked the trick up from Sam a couple of decades ago, I've had ample chance to observe, and I've still not figured it out. I settle for stumping along after my Chosen in a fine impression of someone who spent much of her adult life running around all the dangerous bits of Valdemar and getting shot at, and who can now lecture for at least three quarters of a candlemark on the subject of creaky hip joints.

_:You do not creak.:_ I can feel Alex rolling his eyes at me. _:Because if you did, I would never hear the end of it from you, or from Jayk, who would feel compelled to tell me in great detail about just how much his horse-shaped aunt is whining his ears off.:_

_:Alexander Malken!_:

_:You've already said that.: _"Effie, we're about ready for you."

"Um." She stares up at Alex and starts chewing nervously on her lower lip as Dara hovers protectively over her.

Alex offers her a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine. The Dean told me that you've been able to Hear Dara since he Chose you, is that right?"

One hand tangles in her own hair, the other reaches for Dara. "Um, yes. He's the only one who makes sense, though. Everyone else is loud and confused and they _hurt._"

_:I've not been able to let my shields go since I Chose her, ma'am,_: Dara looks at me with an expression caught partway between worried and earnest. In the back of my head, I can hear Alex laughing.

_:For the love of Kernos, do not refer to me as _ma'am_,_: I say, probably more sharply than I really should. _:It makes me feel old.:_

Dara yelps a _:Sorry!_:

_:You _are_ old,_: Alex says relentlessly. _:Old and contrary and crochety and forever forgetting to put on the right kind of hat.:_

_:Hush, you,_: I order. _:Dara, stop looking at me like I'm about to nut you between the eyes and let me get a good look at your shields.:_ I freely admit that my ground state of vision these days is firmly in the realms of squinting, and Alexander should _know_ this, so I feel completely justified in ignoring his remonstrance against my lack of sensitivity and—oh yes—decorum. Boyo needs to get out more.

_:Interesting,_: Alex comments as he piggybacks on me to look at Dara's shields. _:They're sort of like the city walls, aren't they?_:

_:You have no poetry in your soul.:_ I prod experimentally at Dara's shields, watching how they bend and flex. _:Well, Dara, you certainly know how to build shields. Let's try and pass that on to your Effie before we all turn into statuary in this courtyard.:_

Effie's eyes widen and she sits bolt upright. "I heard you!"

I fix her with a look that I hope is more with the wise and less with the squinty and blink. _:Of course you did; I'm in rapport with your Companion and, at the moment, you've got very little in the way of being able to keep yourselves separate.:_

"Teva, be nice. And start mimicking Dara's shield."

_:Bossy boots,_: I say, even as I give the shields I'm holding over Alex a different flavour and spin.

_:Quite.:_ Alex clears his throat. "Effie, I want you to watch me closely."

Yet again, Alex goes into full-on teacher mindset and my attention begins to wander. I wonder if Harali's managed to stop sawing logs out by the Terilee yet.

_:Knock knock.:_

The problem, of course, with being a psychic horse who's been around the same people for _far_ too many years is that even just idly wondering about them is often enough to make them pop up, as it were, from nowhere.

_:I'm busy teaching the young:_

_:No you're not.:_ Amusement. _:We'd hear you shouting.:_

_:I am going to conspire with Bran and Sinns and we're going to push you in the river.:_

_:Good luck. They're on my side after the most recent instalment of Great Big Hairy Things With Teeth Will Eat You If You Ignore This Advice.:_

I flatten my ears and mentally poke my tongue out at Harali. _:Did you have an actual reason for maligning my good self?_:

_:Sam wants to know if Alex is going to make it to the dining hall for lunch, or whether he should just get a page to take something to the rooms. Again.:_

_:What am I, little miss messenger? Or can Sam not be bothered to extend his Mindspeech Gift these days?:_

The sensation of 'Ali rolling her eyes comes through loud and clear. _:What _you_ are is shielding Alex. Very well, in fact. Sam has been trying to get his attention for the past quarter mark.:_ A momentary pause. _:And yours, he informs me. You appear to have contrived a shield where no-one else except another Companion knows that you've not dropped off the side of the kingdom.:_

I consider that for a moment. _:I'm just copying the shield that young Dara's clapped over his Chosen to stop the world and his wife giving her Gift-overload seizures.:_

_:I think we need to have a word with Dara when you've finished with him. I'll let Veran know. How long do you think you'll be?_:

I pull my attention back to my actual surroundings and examine Effie. _:A quarter mark or so?_: I hazard. _:Alex, do you think she's gotten the hang of it yet?_:

_:Hmm?_: Although to all outside appearances Alex's attention remains firmly on his student, he nevertheless becomes more _there_ in my mind. _:Is our minuscule supply of patience running out by any chance?_:

_:Nothing of the sort.:_

_:Liar,_: Harali interrupts. _:Hello, Alex. Sam wanted to tell you that the cooks decided to have a fry-day today. He's already making his way to the mess hall; do you want him to save you a seat, or merely attempt to keep enough of the food safe from the ravening hordes to take back to your rooms?_:

_:Save me a seat, of course!_:

I wince. _:Anyone would think you were a sugar-addicted little,_: I say severely. _:Not a grown man of nearly—_:

"Well _done_, Effie!" Alex claps his hands together enthusiastically. "That feels a lot more stable, yes?"

My attention is dragged back to the girl in time to see that, yes, she has managed to get some shields about herself that are actually worth a damn, and that she is nervously nodding agreement to my Chosen.

"Good. Now, I'm reliably informed that the bell for dinner is about to go, and that the cooks have been frying up all manner of things for the past mark or so." Alex nudges me in the side with an elbow as he turns to look at his other student. "Lorn, you as well. I think the next best thing for you pair is to get some hot food inside you. Come on."

"Um." Effie looks at Alex, then at Dara.

"You should be able to keep in Mindtouch easily, now," Alex says reassuringly. "And you need to eat to have enough energy to maintain those new shields of yours, come along."

I flick my tail and watch as Alex gently begins to chivvy the two newest Chosen in the direction of the Collegium and food. _:If you eat as much as I think you're going to, them I'm going to make you go over the obstacle course by yourself.:_

_:I love you too, Teva. See you later.:_ Alex essays a wave as he vanishes out of the courtyard, leaving me alone with the other two Companions.

_:Well. Um. I think I should be heading off.:_ Cadi looks around and flattens her ears. _:People to meet and, um, things.:_

_:Me too!_: Dara says in a high voice.

_:Oh no, boyo,_: I say firmly. _:You're not going anywhere unless it's with me.:_

Dara's eyes widen in dismay. Partly, I suspect, because of my pronouncement, but also because of the sympathetic-yet-relieved look that Cadi shoots him before vanishing out of the courtyard in a clatter of bell-like hoof beats. Hah. Anyone'd think that I had a _reputation_ or something.

_:Um.:_

_:Relax, you're not in trouble,_: I say. Dara doesn't look as if he believes me. I sigh and shake my head in a resigned fashion. _:Come on.:_ I march out of the courtyard and start making my way to the Field, after a subtle look backwards to check that Dara _is_ actually following me and hasn't run off somewhere.

We've made it out of the gardens and across one of the more ornamental bridges that lead to the Field before Dara manages to get enough ion the way of guts together to draw almost level with me. _:Where, um, are we going?_:

_:We're meeting Harali and Veran. Over there.: _I point my nose in the direction of a grove of trees. It's not _the_ Grove, thank Astera, or I suspect that Dara would faint dead away. As it is, the mention of both one of my closest cronies _and_ the Groveborn in the same mental breath sees Dara shooting me a frankly panicked look and lagging behind me as we reach the treeline.

_:Oh, honestly. Do you have to set out to induce the collywobbles in every poor creature under the age of thirty?_: Harali ghosts up out of nowhere—eliciting, I might add, a squeak of alarm from Dara—and gives me a reproving look.

I don't dignify her blatant over-exaggerations with a response, instead continuing past her into the secluded copse. Veran, of course, is posed _just so_ and is glowing faintly.

Dara looks suitably awed.

I sneeze.

_:Good afternoon Teva.:_ Veran nods his head. _:Dara, there is no need to look so worried, youngling. You are not in trouble. It is merely that Teva has alerted us to the somewhat novel approach you took to helping your Chosen contain her Gift.:_

Dara flattens his ears. _:It was all I could do,_: he says mournfully. _:She's been like that for most of the past year and I didn't even know until I actually _saw_ her—_:

_:Don't start pointlessly beating yourself up,_: I say heartlessly, neatly dodging the kick Harali aims at my side. _:Believe me when I say that you'll have plenty of things in your life which you could have affected that will still go wrong, so don't go getting an early start.:_

_:Quite,_: Veran says with dignity. _:Although I perhaps would have phrased it in a gentler fashion, Teva.:_

_:Teva has about as much association with tact as firebirds do with the formation of snow.:_ Harali gives a tart sniff. _:But we're not here to discuss her shortcomings—for one thing, there's not that many marks left in the day—we're here about your interesting shields, Dara.:_

_:At least I don't snore.:_ I retort.

Dara looks scandalised.

Veran looks resigned.

_:Ladies—_:

_:Yes, yes, alright.:_ I shake my head and fix Dara with a pointed look. _:Put up those shields. If you please.:_

Dara gives a mental gulp, but does as he's told, spinning his shields out until they shroud him in a layer of iridescence.

_:They're quite pretty, aren't they?_: Harali extends her neck and sniffs at the edge of the shield in an entirely too delicate fashion. _:And simple, when you see how they're put up.:_

_:Simple but effective,_: Veran agrees. _:Are you still able to communicate with your Chosen with them in place?_:

_:Yes, sir.:_

_:Most intriguing.:_

I manage to catch 'Ali's attention and roll my eyes expressively. Ladylike and delicate she may on occasion be, but she has a truly filthy sounding snigger.

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but Dara manages to look even _more_ scandalised.

Veran ignores us.

_:Thank you, Dara. I believe that Teva picked up the knack of the shielding from you relatively quickly.:_

Relatively? _Relatively?_ More like in about five seconds flat, because I am just that marvellous. To point this out, I flash out my shields, expanding them like a little blowing into a twisted wire to make a soap bubble, and give them the swirl of Dara's shielding. I hold them for a beat or two, then let them spring out of existence. Veran blinks at me, then returns his attention to Dara.

_:I shall discuss this with the other senior members of the Herd, but I believe that it is a skill that all of the Companions should acquire as soon as is practical. I trust you will be available to help instruct the others should the need arise?_:

_:Yes, sir,_: Dara squeaks, wide-eyed.

_:Very good.:_ Veran's attention turns inwards, so he completely misses that his usual subtle kind of dismissal isn't going to work on Dara. The youngling's probably more likely to take root unless he's told explicitly.

_:You can go,_: I say helpfully. Dara vanishes at a speed that's going to end up with him and Effie on courier runs if he's not careful.

_:You are the most tactless creature in Haven.:_ Harali aims another friendly kick at my side, which I sidestep.

We both look at Veran, who is still off in his own little world, probably deep in conference with his own Chosen about all the exciting news ways we have of being sneaky. When I say that Veran's subtle in his dismissals, what I also mean is that often, these days, said dismissals are essentially non-existence. Essentially immortal he may be, but I still reckon it's possible for age to make him go soft in the head.

I don't think that very loudly, of course.

_:Lunch?_: 'Ali suggests after a moment, not waiting for me to reply before she sets off in the direction of the stables. Clearly she isn't just thinking about grazing for a bit.

_:All you think about is food.:_ I quickly catch up with her and give her a sideways look. _:And snoring.:_

_:I do not. Besides, _some_ of us were seeing every inch of the obstacle course this morning. At high speed, I might add.:_

_:Hah.:_ I flag my tail and brighten up as she gives me the perfect opening for one of my favourite past times; good natured wrangling. If I'm really lucky, I can drag Alex and Sam in as well, and turn this into a four-way conversation that should nicely eat up the remains of the afternoon.

Retirement is more interesting than I thought it would be when I was a youngling.


End file.
